31/01/2008 The fast growing and highly competitive European transport industry forces the operator to derive maximum value from their trailers. This calls for more reliable and innovative trailers and bodies, which has turned the high-end trailer and body manufacturers into suppliers of technically advanced products that are exclusively made to order. One example of the development in the road transport market is a new longlife concept that was recently launched by the second largest trailer manufacturer in Europe, Fahrzeugwerk Bernard Krone GmbH. - Our new longlife concept guarantees 48 months of maintenance-free driving, which is worth time and money for the freight forwarder and helps to reduce the life-cycle costs of the trailer. Innovative axles, brake and lighting systems are key components of the longlife concept, which, together with other innovations by KRONE such as the award-winning load securing systems and telematics solutions, excellently support the proven quality features and the rigid construction of our trailers, says Ulrich Knüppel-Gertberg, Managing Director of the company. He points out that the product development is clearly driven by the needs of the customers. - As a family owned company we have our customers in mind in all our activities. This means that we develop our solutions on the road, together with our customers. First class partners only According to Ulrich Knüppel-Gertberg the company's success is clearly linked to the innovation and quality of its first class partners in the supply chain. - Our partnership with Finnforest is a great example for mutual business development and cooperation dating back many years. The company produces birch plywood of the highest quality, which is our main flooring material. It is amazing that a natural product like wood performs better for this purpose than many synthetically produced high tech materials. To make sure that the floors stand up to Krone's demands, the company tests them under worst possible conditions, simulating life-long rough use. Feed back from the customers is also essential. - The floors have proven to work very well under all conditions. Through continuous development and strong cooperation between the two companies we are able to offer innovative solutions for our trailers. To us Finnforest is an experienced, reliable and trustworthy premium supplier that offers a state of the art product for our needs, says Ulrich Knüppel-Gertberg. Competition improves industry Ulrich Knüppel-Gertberg points out, that environmental issues are essential for the high-end trailer industry. For example Krone uses KTL+Powder as its coating method, which has the lowest emissions at the same time being a technically leading surface treatment method. - Environment friendliness in transport comes mainly through minimizing the diesel-consumption of the tractor unit through, for example, innovative tires and technically advanced cooling units of reefer-trailers. As a result of the tough competition in the European transport business, the trailer and body manufacturers have to offer more and more sophisticated trailers to help the freight forwarders to derive maximum value from the trailers. - We appreciate competition, as it encourages us to improve the quality of our products as well as our competitiveness continuously. In some eastern European countries we also see a growing demand and trend for trailers with solid walls instead of side-curtains. Overall we feel that our product portfolio works well all over Europe, since our exports are growing strongly. Rapid growth The market for trailers in the European transport market is over 200 000 trailers per year and the demand is increasing. With approximately 34 000 units sold in year 2007 Fahrzeugwerk Bernard Krone Gmbh is the second largest trailer manufacturer in Europe. Starting in 2008 the capacity will rise to over 50 000 trailers. The company has little less than 1 000 employees. Altogether the Krone Group has about 2 000 employees, including the production of agricultural machines and various subsidiaries inside and outside Europe. - Investing strongly in both trailers and agricultural machinery production, we achieved a turnover of Euro 1.2 billion for the Krone Group for the financial year that ended 31.07.2007, compared to Euro 978 million in the last financial year. The trailer business stands for about two thirds of the group's total turnover.